USPS' 2016 stamps celebrate Pluto's exploration
...and 'Star Trek's' 50th anniversary.
The US Postal Service now has an answer to its 1991 "Not Yet Explored" Pluto stamp, the same one the New Horizons team affixed to their probe before it started its journey to the dwarf planet. These new stamps for 2016 feature an artist render of the history-making spacecraft, as well as the most popular image it took of Pluto. The composite photo, which clearly shows Pluto's heart-shaped region, was captured by the probe's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) during its closest approach.
Besides the Pluto Explored! stamps, the USPS is releasing a number of other space-themed designs. They include full-disk images of our solar system's planets taken within the last 50 years and ones featuring the full moon. Finally, and most importantly for stamp-collecting Trekkies out there, the Postal Service is celebrating Star Trek's 50th anniversary with four colorful digital illustrations inspired by the franchise. May you live long and prosper in the age of emails and delivery drones, USPS, may you live long and prosper.
[Image credit: USPS/Antonio Alcalá © 2016/Greg Breeding under the art direction of William Gicker © 2016/Heads of State under the art direction of Antonio Alcalá © 2016]
